Do-It-Yourself Privacy

by Mike Langberg

New tools for protecting online privacy could save www.networkadvertising.org) provides one-stop service for consumers who don't want their Web activities tracked by the big agencies that place Web advertising, such as 24/7 Media, DoubleClick, and MatchLogic. To keep everyone honest, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen has been hired to investigate complaints. The goal is maintaining what is known as Online Preference Marketing, or OPM, in which banner ads can be targeted to individual users by watching where they go on the Web and what they do. Some people don't want to be tracked, raising calls in Congress for an outright ban. By making it simple for those with concerns about OPM to opt out, there should be less pressure to restrict OPM with those who don't object.